The application of thin insulating coatings onto conductive materials is common in a variety of industries. In some instances, these insulating coatings may be purposefully applied to mitigate or prevent the corrosive degradation of the conductive materials. For example, insulating coatings may mitigate or prevent galvanic corrosion of metallic aircraft components by preventing charge mobility. In other instances, the insulating coatings may be applied to enhance the adhesion of subsequently applied coatings or materials, protect the substrate from harmful radiation exposure (e.g., ultraviolet emissions), act as a light reflective material, and retard microbial growth. Moreover, in additional instances, purely cosmetic coatings applied to conductive materials may also act as unintended insulating coatings. This is often due to the fact that cosmetic coatings rarely have electrostatic requirements.
The combination of insulating coating on electrically-grounded conductive materials, or substrates, may create capacitance as electrostatic charges accumulate on the coating surfaces. Capacitance may result in spontaneous, self-initiated electrical surface discharges when the electrostatic charges cannot relax to ground. These spontaneous, self-initiated electrical surface discharges are also commonly known as propagating brush discharges (PBD). Propagating brush discharges are generally undesirable. Cosmetic coatings may be made conductive to mitigate or eliminate such electrical surface discharges. However, conductive coatings cannot be substituted for insulating coatings that prevent galvanic corrosion. Therefore, novel systems and methods of insulating coating application that does not comprise the galvanic protection and other useful functions of the insulating coating, yet reduce or eliminate the possibility of electrical surface discharges, would have utility.